Astrud Gilberto (born March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian singer best known for her samba and bossa nova music. Astrud was born Astrud Weinert from a Brazilian mother and a German father in the state of Bahia, and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. Astrud married Joņo Gilberto in 1959, and they moved to the United States in 1963, when she performed on the influential Getz/Gilberto album with Joņo Gilberto, Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Astrud had never performed professionally before, and joined the recordings by insistence of Stan Getz. In the mid-1960s the couple divorced.
The success of Gilberto's vocal work on the song "The Girl from Ipanema" quickly turned her into a jazz star, and soon she started recording solo. She started as an interpreter of Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz standards, but started recording her own compositions in the 1970s. The song "Astrud," by Polish singer Basia, is a tribute to Gilberto.
Her favorite music is jazz and ragtime. Gilberto is also a fine artist, and an ardent advocate of animal rights.
